Parenting

Jewish Camp is a valuable way for interfaith families to learn and share in the joy of Judaism in a comfortable, fun and meaningful environment. See which camps identify as welcoming to interfaith families.

Organizations

Connecting Interfaith Families to Jewish Life in Greater Cleveland by providing programs and opportunities for interfaith families to experience Judaism in a variety of venues, meet other interfaith families, and to connect to other Jewish organizations that may serve their needs.

Events

This is an interactive, fun, and low-key workshop for couples who are dating, engaged or recently married. The sessions will give you a chance to ask questions about faith, to think about where you are as an adult with your own spirituality and to talk through what's important to you and your partner.

For Program Providers

A great way for Jewish professionals and volunteers who work with and provide programming for people in interfaith relationships to locate resources and trainings to build more welcome into their Jewish communities; connect with and learn from each other; and publicize and enhance their programs and services.

Blogs

June 6, 2006 eNewsletter

Web Magazine

June 6, 2006

Dear friend,

The African-American and Jewish communities share many historical traits--liberal politics, recent tragedy, experience in the civil rights movement--but culturally, they're miles apart. What happens, then, when a Jew and an African-American fall in love? Can they bridge the gap between the two cultures? Should they? How do they fit into each other's communities?

Prepare to be educated and challenged by the new issue of our Web Magazine, where we share powerful perspectives from people in multicultural interfaith relationships, their children, and black converts to Judaism.

Take Lesley Williams. An African-American, she converted to Judaism ten years ago because of the religion's emphasis on ethics and social justice. So why does she still feel like an outsider in her own synagogue? Read more in Waiting Outside the Promised Land .

Or, Alina Adams, a white Jew married to a black man. "Sometimes I get so carried away in a discussion," she says, "that when the person I'm talking to responds in an unexpected way, I actually find myself thinking: Can't she see that I'm saying this because I'm black?" Read more in Nuclear (Family) Fusion: Seeing the World Through Another's Eyes .

Kyra Davis, on the other hand, is black, Jewish, well-adjusted--and has never been called an Oreo. "The biggest challenge multiracial people face today," she says, is not "an inability to be accepted, but an inability to communicate to the world that we have not been rejected." Read her refreshing perspective in The Challenge of Being Me .

Black Jews also bring a unique cultural perspective to the arts. Justin Warfield fronts a group called She Wants Revenge, but he's got nothing but gratitude for his Russian-Romanian-Jewish-Southern-African-American upbringing. Read Karla S. Blume's profile of this up-and-coming star. And Carolivia Herron, the author of the popular children's book Nappy Hair, converted to Judaism because she likes its emphasis on "wrestling with God." Read more in in Jacqueline Sternberg's profile .

Meanwhile, Esther Meyers bridged the cultural gap between her Jewish background and her husband's Muslim upbringing by focusing on shared values--and communicating them to their son, in Common Values Shared between a Jew and a Muslim .

What do you think? Please join our online discussion on the topic: Growing up in a black/Jewish family, or living in a black/Jewish relationship, which community has been more accepting: the black community or the Jewish community?

Also in This Issue

While the top leadership of the Conservative movement has recently become more welcoming to interfaith families, the movement's Federation of Jewish Men's Clubs has been advocating outreach for years. Now, the group is helping synagogues learn how to better incorporate their intermarried members. Read more in Sue Fishkoff's article .

Connections In Your Area--Featured Event

The DaVinci Code and Judaism

Join a discussion as Rabbi Harry Manhoff, of Congregation Beth Shalom in San Leandro, sorts out the myth and facts about Judaism and Early Christianity from Dan Brown's bestselling book. Was there a conspiracy to hide the offspring of Jesus Christ and Mary Magdalene? Have we moderns abandoned the "divine feminine" in religion? And who really had sex rituals? Rabbi Manhoff has written and lectured extensively on early Christianity and promises to offer entertaining insight into what really happened in the last two millennia.

The event takes place on June 26 at 7:30 p.m. and is sponsored by Building Jewish Bridges, Oakland, CA, and co-sponsored by the Berkeley Richmond JCC. For more information, click here .

Network News

Thank You!

Our recent online appeal raised over $10,000 in three weeks! With other donations, we're now close to meeting the goal for the Children of Harvey and Lyn Meyerhoff Philanthropic Fund's challenge grant to support our marketing efforts. Thank you for your support!

Appearances/Events

For our Reform rabbi friends, please visit our booth at the Central Conference of American Rabbis Convention in San Diego in June--and come to our reception and information session on Tuesday, June 20, at 4 p.m.

InterfaithFamily.com will be a
co-presenter of La Petite Jerusalem at the San Francisco Jewish Film Festival later this summer.

Ways You Can Get Involved

Support Us. If what we do helps you or others you care about, please make a tax-deductible charitable contribution in support of our work.

Join Our Discussions. We want to know what you think--and it's easy to tell us!

Spread the Word. Ask your friends to subscribe to The eConnection --the more people we reach, the better!

Derived from the Greek word for "assembly," a Jewish house of prayer. Synagogue refers to both the room where prayer services are held and the building where it occurs. In Yiddish, "shul." Reform synagogues are often called "temple."Hebrew for "my master," the term refers to a spiritual leader and teacher of Torah. Often, but not always, a rabbi is the leader of a synagogue congregation.